This invention relates generally to point of sale terminals and, more particularly, to point of sale terminals adapted for portable use.
Point of sale terminals are commonly used in retail stores to record information relating to sales transactions. In its most basic form, the terminal includes a keyboard for the manual entry of data and a printer for printing a paper tape receipt for delivery to the customer. Many point of sale terminals are now associated with bar code scanners for reading the bar codes printed on the items being purchased. Most commonly, the bar code scanners take the form of fixed laser scanners built into a counter top at the point of sale. Other bar code scanners include portable wands and handheld scanners having scanning lasers or charge-coupled device detectors for scanning the bar codes.
Conventional point of sale terminals also commonly include magnetic readers for reading the data recorded on the customers' credit cards. The customers' credit is then verified by electronically accessing an appropriate database over a telephone line.
Although the point of sale terminals described generally above have proven to be extremely effective in facilitating sales transactions, they have not proven to be entirely satisfactory in all applications. Because the terminals are essentially immobile, they are not adapted for use in situations where merchandise is sold at remote locations, away from a retail store environment, or at movable locations within such a retail store environment. It should therefore be appreciated that there is a need for a point of sale terminal that provides the usual point of sale terminal functions, but that is portable. The present invention fulfills this need.